What to Pack for a Day Trip on Your Travels: 16 Small Essentials We Always Carry

What should you remember to pack for day trips while you're out traveling? We've been traveling for over 3.5 years and boy do we have horror stories from forgetting things like wallets and keys. Forgetting one tiny essential can make for a very stressful day.

So, to help us remember and to help you prepare for your day trips, here's our checklist for what we carry on fun day trips while we're out traveling.

16 Essentials to Pack For Your Day Trips

1. Collapsable Backpack

Our friends gifted us this Chico collapsable backpack and it's been a game changer for us! We love it! It folds down into a small square to make it easy to fit in your carry on luggage bag for the plane and then you can pull it out on your trip and carry everything you need for your day trips. We even use it to carry our computers to coffee shops for work days.

Here's the one we use and love!

2. Water

Wherever you're headed, you always want to carry water on you. You never know how long your day trip may be and when/if you'll see your opportunity to get water and how much it will be.

We always carry water with us when we take off on a day trip just to be certain we can stay happy and hydrated.

Adam loves his Nalgene and I love any collapsable water bottle that decreases in size as I drink it. With my camera gear, I like the collapsable ones that can easily be stashed away and make my load lighter as I go.

4. Sunscreen

Getting burned on a trip is a major bummer. You end up in pain and having to stay out of the sun. No fun in that!

So we always keep sunscreen on us.

We're huge Beyond Coastal fans and have a box of these! This sunscreen is magic. It doesn't leave you feeling greasy like all the others. And, it comes in tiny travel sizes to carry with you so you can reapply on your shoulders and nose if needed throughout the day.

5. Chapstick

It's the worst when your lips are chapped and you have nothing to relieve them. Am I right? When my lips are burning I can't think of anything else, so having some chapstick with me is a must! It's the little things, isn't it?

7. Journal and Pen

You never know when you need pen and paper to scribble down directions, or a new friend's email, or a brilliant idea that springs itself on you:)

We love Rite in the Rain's pocket size journal. It fits in Adam's back pocket and in my purse or the backpack easily. And, the pages wont be ruined if it rains or your coffee spills on them! I have so many pages of journals that are smudged with normal paper. We love these memo books!

We've learned to always carry an extra battery pack for our phones. Whenever something terrible is happening like we're lost and need Google maps, or our car was towed and we have to find where it is, our battery is about to die at 5%. ARG!

We were gifted this Enerplex power pack and it's been a life saver for us on our day trips when we're out and away from a power supply.

10. Camera

If you carry a fun camera or GoPro, remember that too!

I carry a small DSLR, a Canon Rebel, and it fits in a small purse. I love the small size for day trips because it's light and I can keep it discrete by keeping it stashed away in a small purse or pull it out when needed. Check out the Rebel and the other camera gear I carry here.

11. Tickets

Do you have tickets for your day trip? Remember those!

12. Wallet

And money.

13. Keys

Do you have your keys? Just checking!

14. ID & Passport

I always have some sort of ID on me in my wallet, but for our passport it depends how we feel where we are. Sometimes we carry our passport and sometimes we don't.

16. Light Jacket

And for all of us who tend to get cold, remember a light jacket just in case:)

I had a super light GoLite wind jacket I took on our round the world trip that I loved, but they've discontinued it. This Marmot Air Jacket is the closest one I can find like it that's super light and can fold down into the pocket and fits in a purse or backpack. It also has a hood, is wind resistant, and water repellent for spontaneous rain. Everything I need to keep me covered.

When we're headed somewhere colder, I pack a fleece and slip my fleece under this jacket and stay cozy warm!